How the electricity generator or ALTERNATOR functions to PRODUCE its power for an APPLICATION.

Justifying the operation of an alternator is not that difficult. The most complicated alternators (doesn't include electronically-controlled inverter units which dispense with the traditional alternator completely) all operate based on the same principles you would have learned in an entry-level highschool (maybe middle-school) electronics class. I should know. It's exactly where I heard about them for the first time.

The use of MAGNETS and WIRING in the electricity GENERATOR.

Any wire that is connected to an electric source will develop a magnetic field around it. You can make your own magnet as long as you start with two things: electricity and a wire. One wire will create a very small magnetic field that probably won't be of tremendous value. Multiple wires together, when connected to a source of electricity, can create a huge magnetic pull. Suppose, then, that you started with a wire and a magnet, but no electricity? Electricity can be engendered by moving the magnet past the wire. As before, a magnet moved past a single wire won't develop enough electricity to be very useful. Put a number of wires together, and the result will be quite different. This is exactly how a generator's alternator manufactures electricity for your application. It uses a gasoline motor to spin magnets inside of countless coiled wires (called windings) to make electric power. In other words, it makes electricity from a magnet (in this case, several magnets used together), and a wire (which you already know means many wires coiled together to improve their voltage-making capacity.

What does WATTAGE and VOLTAGE have to do with CURRENT?

There is a mathematical relationship between current (measured in amps), voltage, and wattage. Number of watts divided by number of volts will tell you how many amps (how much current) should be traveling through a wire or wires. The resistance of a wire also has an impact on the number of amps that can pass through it, but, if the wiring is good, the impact of resistance is minimal and doesn't affect operation of the circuit. Sometimes aging wires develops greater resistance than was intended, and the increased resistance prevents sufficient current flow from passing through to do a job. Think of it this way: current measures the amount of flow or flow rate - a 4-amp current through a wire has a greater flow-rate than a 2-amp current; a 20-amp current through a wire has a greater flow-rate than a 10-amp current. Voltage is a measure of pressure. A high voltage exacts greater pressure. If your electric wire was a water pipe, 240 volts would create greater pressure on its edges (and thus be harder to move through the pipe) than the lower 120 volts. Watts are a measure of the strength required to push a given voltage (pressure) through a wire or electrical circuit (pipe) at a desired flow rate.

AC or ALTERNATING current versus DC or DIRECT current - and the role of HERTZ.

The electricity available at your generator's outlet panel is the same AC or alternating current found in a home or business. Some generators also have a DC or "charging" outlet that distributes direct current. Direct current is found in batteries, and it always travels (flows) from the positive battery terminal to the negative battery terminal. Alternating current moves one way, then switches and moves back the other - like a rifle-packing sentry on guard duty. Hertz (abbreviated Hz) tells you how many times per second the sentry changes direction. Here in the U.S., for instance, our electricity is delivered at 60 Hz - so the sentry reverses direction 60 times per second. In Europe, 50 Hz electricity is the norm - their sentries change direction only 50 times per second. It is crucial to obtain a generator that produces the same frequency (or electricity with the same number of directional changes) as the circuits and appliances of a location were designed to operate on - because the two are not interchangeable. We would never advise someone to do so - however, it is true that by changing a generator's engine speed, you can effect the electrical frequency (or Hz) being produced. A 3600 rpm generator (which includes portables and air-cooled standbys) that yields a frequency of 60 Hz will always produce 50 Hz when it is operated at 3000 rpm. An 1800 rpm generator operating at 1500 rpm will also yield 50 Hz. This is not considered best practice for adjusting generator frequency because consistently maintaining these lower engine speeds can be difficult, even with an rpm gauge.

The means by which an electric generator PRODUCES power is pretty BASIC and uncomplicated.

You can create your own AC electricity with a wire and a magnet. Moving the magnet and wire toward each other makes electricity, but the electricity created flows in only one direction. The magnet pushes current through the wire. By moving the magnet and wire away from each other, the magnet loses its ability to apply pressure and the same electricity reverses itself and attempts to leave the wire - almost like a bully chasing somebody down a street. If the tiring bully enters a house to rest, whoever is being chased can reverse and race back up the street. But, when the refreshed bully steps onto the house porch, the pursued must reverse him (or herself) again. This is how you produce AC or alternating current. If you could move your wire and magnet in and out, out and in, 60 times per second, you could make 60 Hz electricity. The electricity sine wave would be ragged and uneven - unless you had a way of ensuring that, when you moved the magnet and wire apart, the distance apart and speed of the movement were always constant. That would produce a predictable (stable) sine wave. This is what your generator does. The engine spins a magnet (multiple magnets usually) past a coil of wires - electricity is created - as the magnet recedes, the electricity reverses itself (changes directions) - when the magnet returns, the electricity swings around again (the procedure for creating AC output - in very rough terms).